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Hi everybody, I have had spiritual experiences before and I was always scared. When I was like 11 years old I didn't see that many ghosts anymore for some reason mostly max 2 times every year ( I know I sound pretty weird right now) but I have awakened in 2020. This may be my best year yet when it comes to self improvement and actualization. Last night was the first time I felt calm and peaceful while seeing a spirit and it even looked different. I don't know for sure if it was a spirit or something else because I know there are a lot of things out there we can't sense. So last night I was meditating extremely long (to me). I started meditating around 12 am because at night the vibes are just better and the moonlight was shining on me when I was sitting against the wall on my bed. For some reason I love looking at the moon, it makes me feel very nostalgic and peaceful like I don't have to worry about time and all the toxic bullshit that goes on when most people are awake. It can even make me feel ecstatic the same way some amazing out of this world dreams can, although I don't know if it is possible to make myself dream like that on demand. I decided to meditate with my eyes open because the moon was full and I wanted to see the sky (the sky is very clear because I live in a rainforest right now ) After an hour or so I started to feel even better and more ecstatic. I felt very safe like nothing could harm me and even if I die it would be okay. Nothing really mattered to me at that point and I just kinda existed... It sounds strange but Idon't know how else to describe it. Then I suddenly saw something in the shape of a person walking in front of me but it was shining. I could not see any facial features or anything but it was like the person or whatever it was was made of light. Then it walked away and disappeared fast while walking. I know for sure this was not a hallucination, it was walking right in front of me and it disappeared right before my eyes. I was not tired at all for some reason, I felt very refreshed and awake actually so it was not a dream either. I am very grateful that I was able to experience this, if you guys have had some experience like this or if you know what the thing was then let me know, I would love to hear it.

Just finished this book which was recommended by Guru Fat Bastard in High Consciousness resources. It's also on Audible. Wow wow I don't know what else to say other than wow. Here is a quote from the book: "Consciousness is all there is, flowing, streaming through these instruments in a manner which, in accordance with the perfect unfolding of totality, is perceived as discreet individual entities autonomously performing actions, but in truth this is not the case. There is no individual, no entity, no separate self here to do anything or to be anything, awakened or enlightened included." -- David Carse, Perfect Brilliant Stillness

I highly disagree. There are aliens sitting on a planet somewhere who are enlightened as fuck and their consciousness is nowhere within your narrow band of 4 states. There can literally be millions of different permanent awakened states. And the notion of permanent vs temporary is itself false. There is no such distinction other than in your mind.

But how do you know if you yourself been doing them so much and don't claim to be awakened/enlightened sober? Thousands of peak states, yes but there are literally "only" 4 or maybe a few more states of enlightenment that don't go away after the trip, afterglow, or a meditative state is over. There are no permanent states where love is there all the time, even the most advanced practitioners have to do Metta meditation to get flooded with Love, it means they intentionally have to get into a state of Metta. I also think the big fuss is about definitions of the word "awakening" and "enlightenment". People like Ralston usually are using these two interchangeably and for them, it ain't awakening if you can't keep it outside of your meditation. Someone may enter a deep Jhana state where whole body sense dissolves or intense Metta but they don't call it awakening/enlightenment

@K Ghoul @wwhy @Gili Trawangan Many thanks for your messages! @Gili Trawangan Exactly! then I quit my supposed to be "dream job" i felt the need that i no longer belong to this town now that i lost my status. Also, in all those years i got nothing but just that WORK and friends an colleagues were into marriages or long term relationships. I considered moving from here, but i never dared to do it. I kinda introvert because I need lots of alone time but i am also a person who enjoys company, sharing experiences and relating other persons...so I guess I would have no problem with that. Here I tried to socialize a bit more but I feel uneasy because many ppl know me and it shocks them a lot me still being single and SO alone sometimes that I only work, train, buy groceries or visit the forest with my readings. Ladies are the worst honestly. I got rejected by many of them to their girly plans because some of them are pure gold diggers or are just frustrated with their lives. Ok I need some boost or balance or something but I am SO COMMITED PERSON and humble. I try to help others not envy them for their achieves made by hard effort! (applies to all..career, physique, spirituality) Regarding the spiritual path. That's what I am in here. It is SO APPEALING to me and as I mentioned, sometime in the past I felt that calling. Due to a toxic family member I almost lost my head when I realized she is a bad person and that she has been subcounciously harming me and also some other family members. It was a shock. I move for my place in several occasions because she searched for me (this can be related by family members and friends swell). I think I AWAKENED that time. Got a shock and almost could not speak, my thinking was slow, i also got lost in my town. Some family members took care of me that time. I recovered (I think) with no help, but struggling with all this reality in my day to day life. I've keep on with my shitty job to pay my bills and that stuff but still ALL THESE TEACHINGS I have been given..come on...after all this all and what I've been I think I am not %20 of the person I am to be! *Btw. This person is my mother, the person I spend all my life next to and taking care of (she got a cancer that is fully recovered nowadays)...she hates, and wishes me and all persons near her death. Again, she is free of any disease. She's been like this for years. Everyone knows of her strange character..and she loves no one. I wonder is the mentioned "awakening" is a real awakening or not. Do not want t use the work wrongly. I feel it was kind of a emotional shock..but still...my reality nowadays is so different and i link it with the extreme suffering 1. diseases. 2. emotional abuse 3. reality Thanks for reading!

It's not a matter of who's more enlightened. Consciousness has many facets and degrees. There is really no such thing as "enlightenment" as a singular thing. There are thousands of various kinds of awakened states. No, I claim that Truth = Love, and that Love is Absolute. No, Ralston claims that love is just an emotion/feeling. Which is false. I mean... it IS that, but it's also an Absolute. He doesn't understand that Truth = Love. Or if he does, he denies it publicly. I suspect he actually knows but he's just playing coy. I have already solved it. I know that I AM LOVE. Do you?

I can accept the fact that being in a state of bliss creates a type of neglect for the body, and that they just do what they enjoy doing and if they get fat so be it. I can see that depending on the type of ego/personality fixations, enlightenment will generate different results. I'm curious to know what happens after LOC1000 with fully awakened kundalini. I tend to believe people like Elon Musk are highly awake, he must be in the 700's at least.

Because most awakened folks didn't need it as they were spiritually gifted. It doesn't mean they can't help.

Lol... Oh...becoming Immortal is 100% realistic. Or at least realising that you were never a mortal being in the first place. But *TRULY* realising this...this is not just possible, it is to be expected! That is what happens when you awaken deeply. Perhaps the desire to become awakened and immortal is ego driven, but I don't think this is a problem. I theorise that the ego must be strengthened before it is destroyed. Or at least the *identification* with the ego is destroyed. I definitely have "becoming Immortal" as one of my top reasons for pursuing awakening myself like

@Recursoinominado i dont even know what pursue consciousness means tbh , i just thought this would be the right rather fancy terminology to say i want to be awakened someday . i understand what you mean , you are right most people dont know about enlightenment and consciousness . of course i will not be foolish if i ever do play the step 2 you mentioned . Sorry that pursue consciousness is totally my mistake. but then how do i start to get financial support?(as you said i should not expect)and btw i only tell my parents because its a compulsive behaviour , deep inside i want to show off my knowledge tbh , this is not so good behaviour and compulsiveness i am trying to overcome it.

I think you can find better information and guidance for free online. I read about this and I don't get a good feeling of it, I don't think he or his students have fully awakened yet.

Keep seeking then:-) Or stop. But even stopping is seeking. LOL. Relatively speaking, only when your inner world is full of peace and love, you are considered awakened in my selfish book. However, consider, if the reason your inner world is full of turmoil, unhappiness, stress, hate, is perhaps because of your constant pursuit of - consciously or unconsciously - looking for ways to change yourself/the world/become "better". The striving "to become better" can be a path full of suffering, because it implies that you consider yourself to be pretty bad. Thus, the striving/seeking creates the problem, in a sense. But perhaps a problem is needed, temporarily. Because problems create suffering. And I believe suffering is necessary for awakening because suffering cleanses your soul, at least if you suffer consciously. So keep seeking. Suffer more - just remember to do it consciously.

@RedLine Logic and mind have no way to dive into the question you're asking, it's as simple as that. Without thought, utterly absorbed, you know because YOU ARE. End of story. Love is a word, but it's one of the best to point to the heart of reality. Peace as well. As soon as you try to do anything with that word, it's too late. This. Also, we are waking up to see that suffering is our own making - ALL of it. Why do you think awakened beings have nothing on their heart but freeing people of suffering? That's not only done in the phenomenal realm. It is the ultimate act of love without hesitation. Again: Only absolute silence reveals what is true. Questions melt away, for they are too flat for infinity, they don't matter.

I have meditated from time to time. I like it a lot. But I've never been really serious about it. Best psychedelics for me have been Ayahuasca and 2C-B (and DMT I suppose). And LSD too I guess, lol. 5 years ago I experienced complete insanity on 150 ug of LSD. Before that I was a rather normal -- albeit insecure -- guy, but very atheistic and very devoted to science, logic and materialism. Also very curious I guess since I for some reason wanted to try LSD so badly (did LSD before I ever smoked weed or a cigarette). Main takeaway from the LSD trip 5 years ago was that it made me question everything, since I got a vibe of "unrealness" from this LSD trip; it was as if my life as this person I believed I was, was just a thought, nothing else. An idea. It was scary as fuck. But I was also fascinated. Yeah, basically, with "complete insanity" I just mean that I for 3-5 hours felt like I had lost it totally. It was a form of ego-death. But not a loving ego death. What I learned was that thoughts are pretty powerful and that reality could be more mysterious and bigger and wierder than my own materalistic scientific world-view devoid of any divine elements. 1 week later I did LSD again with a friend and had a positive trip where I experienced a loving ego death. I was without any thoughts, sense of self for 30-60 minutes and all that was left was the music playing and the fractalcs, and I was just that. Pure being. Pure love. When I came back to my body/ego, I got very scared, however, cos I basically hated myself these days, so ofc I got scared. Yeah, you gotta love yourself (ego) if you want to be enlightened, I didn't do that back then. Anyway, after these 2 LSD trips I began getting seriously interested in spirituality. I've been on the path for 5 years. Been through some rough depressions, 1 where I almost killed myself. Had a break-through on ayahuasca 1 year ago where I met God and understood how to love myself. Had another break-through on 2CB 2 months ago where I realized I was God, and that all events in my life had happened out of Divine Intelligent Love (my own plan as God). During that 2C-B trip I basically cried for 2-3 hours straight over how beautiful everything was. I consider myself awakened after that trip. This DMT-trip was just another deepening of what I already knew since that 2CB-trip.

Does Love realization differ in quality from No-Self realization, or is it just a matter of the interpretation? What I mean is after having awakened to Love, do you looking back on your previous breakthroughs see that they always have been about Love and are the same as the new ones or some new quality has appeared that hasn't been present before?

I'm going to make a controversial statement. The less of a personality that someone has, the more awakened they are. This is actually taught in the Fourth Way. I've just worded it in a blunt way. I've often pondered why more people aren't drawn to the Teachings of Hameed Ali Almaas. His understanding is so comprehensive Like this guy who makes these condensed and very informative YouTubes on Fourth Way concepts that I've posted just underneath.Neither one have much of a personality. Consider also Eckhart Tolle. He really doesn't have very much personality or maybe I should say he doesn't have a big personality. There are many distinctions to be made here. Such as the notion of attaining the 'Pearl beyond Price' in which our raw personality or ego is slowly transformed over time through a multiple series of awakenings. I think maybe Eckhart Tolle fits our idea in the west of a 'spiritual person' and that might account for some of his popularity. Almaas was born and grew up in Kuwait and has a Middle Eastern flavor of an accent and sometimes what to a lot of us sounds like peculiar way of phrasing or pronunciation of some words. What I've stated can't be taken as a blanket statement either. Sadhguru has what I would characterize as a powerful personality. And then there's Osho,,,,, While on the the subject of terms with multiple usages like Ego, Personality, Love, etc., I value Emerald Wilkins knowledge and understanding on her Diamond Net channel. She strikes me as someone who has studied and worked a lot on herself as all Teachers in general must. And of course I value and completely enjoy Leo's explanations. Even if he spends 3 hours doing it or perhaps especially because he makes such drawn out and through distinctions in his talks. All the Teachers I've mentioned address this subject of personality, false personality, ego, essence, personal essence ,,,, in different ways but similarly. Yet, it seems the majority of people almost tune out these particular messages in a way. In general I think the more Teachers You allow yourself to be open to, the better it is for your advantage in learning and acquiring perspectives because at the core of each of us is a multidimensional being.

@Jed Vassallo "Only when you wake from the dream can you understand that it was all meaningless, just an experience you dreamt up to experience." "Existence is both meaningless and infinitely meaningful. There is no meaning to nothingness, yet there is meaning because you God created it. " So if it is both meaningless and infinitely meaningful, why does awakening only bring about the understanding of the meaninglessness of life? Don't we already find life meaningless or meaningful in our non-awakened states? Or to put it another way, isn't meaning just another mental construct?

Hmm.. I've never really purposefully journaled to try to work through stuff, it just comes up. What is purposefully? I suppose I've been contemplating that lately. I've been on such a great feeling spree, feel like I've hit a bit of a wall though. I want big things. Pretty sure I'm holding myself back by thinking I'm bad and unworthy. The youtube videos I make highlight this. The judgmental feelings of myself they bring up and the anxiety posting them and reading comments can be a lot. A few weeks ago I was really excited about them. Just went to check, and there's a brand new SUPER mean comment. It's almost funny how quickly I'm getting what I'm focusing on right now. Reminds me of the time mom told me not to step over a fallen tree while skating and I put one foot over it and it went right through the ice. I don't even have to have the karma boomerang leave my hand to smack myself in the head with it. Hmm... Fuuuuuuuuuuck. Sorry, this is a stream of consciousness flow now. I don't know why. Apple blossoms. Why do antique clocks make me feel so weird? Is ADD a gift? Streams of consciousness flow are bullshit. I don't even know what the fuck I'm conscious of, sure as hell can't write it all down. It's separating the mental voice from feelings, so everything that's thought has to come out in words, which isn't normally how I "think". Thoughts are thoughts and never separate, so I'm separating out my thoughts purposefully by doing a stream of consciousness flow. . Is that why talking to people helps? I feel like wanting an audience makes me a narcissist, and I feel like wanting to make money off spirituality makes me even worse than that. And that doesn't feel good, so obviously it's not true. Sometimes I feel like throwing the settlers of cattan cards of life in the air. I don't fuckin' wanna play anymore. I quit trying to be vegan and started eating meat again. Lost 7-8 pounds in three weeks and got my energy back. I was doing it for my consciousness. There is an energetic thing with it, I think. One of the last realizations the day I awakened was that of communion. "What did you have for lunch?" Nahm PMed me. Ground beef. I was barely eating, I lost a several pounds over the couple weeks leading up to it. "Cows are holy and that's why you must eat them." I wrote in that journal. Realization that I'm the devil. 666 post. What the fuck does that mean? Who knows. "You're a bitch, scam like all of them." The youtube comment says. Well, at least I'm in good company. Incredible how that comment aligns with the thoughts I've been thinking. Today I was thinking about how if I was Eckhart Tolle I'd think I was a horrible speaker. But because I'm not he is perfect. Journaling never fails to satisfy. "All humor is self deprecating." I wrote that on the forum twice in the past 24 hours. Awful youtube comments are pretty hilarious when you remember why you wrote them for yourself.

@Someone here To say that religions are pointing to a fantasy is really ignorant. There surely has to be something magnificent to discover(heaven/paradise/truth). Otherwise why would awakened beings like Rumi or Eckart Tolle for example describe it as eternal joy, love, unconditional happiness etc. If someone isn't deluded then its definitetly an enlightened being/master.

Oh shit. I just realized I completely misunderstood the concept of a servitor. Huh. I read a book by a clairvoyant doctor who seemingly awakened through a series of hypnotherapy sessions, he had an obsession with them. The power of another's focus and matched desires for awakening can be tremendous. The apple had to be ripe to fall though.

If you can't see Love in this image, then you are not awakened.

Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom... nom nom nom... mmmmmh, anybody else want some of this? No offense guys, but there is nothing that's more inadvertently entertaining than a bunch of awakened fellows bickering over who is more awakened. -- Well, almost nothing!

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Leo Gura Jul 19, 2020 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ However in the video Leo says: " Everything is Nothing" and " there is no distinction between something and nothing " But the title does not say this. The title says that nothing exist only something exists. So where is the evidence that nothing exists other than "nothing" being an abstract dualistic concept but not a real thing? The title of the video is not " There is no Distinction Between Something and Nothing " Similarly Leo has said there is only Love and that hate doesn't exist and he justifies that because assuming nonduality is true then if we add hate to Love it's two things not one. ____________________________________________ So we return to the original title Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Prove that that is not true. That "nothing" doesn't exist. It's a mental construct. What about the idea Nothing is all there is , everything is an illusion? It doesn't matter, an illusion is not nothing. What about the statement alone Nothing is all there is ? That doesn't work because we experience different things. We only experience things, thoughts etc You go into a pitch black dark room insulated from sound yet you can sense your feet standing there, or your own breathing , thoughts memory etc. Just being alive you are experiencing and that is not nothing. Ok what about statements like Infinity is Zero Up is Down Hate is Love Everything is Nothing I am you You are Me If you take two words like this that are considers opposites and you put the word "is" or "am" in between. The are interesting because they doesn't make sense. They seem clever , paradoxical and your brain tries to make sense of them but it keeps looping an it can't In the video the idea is raise why does the universe have various things in it ? Wouldn't it be simpler and more elegant to have nothing? Hypothetically yes but that would be extremely boring. So we return to the original title Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Why wouldn't only something exist? Where is the proof that nothing exists? See, the intuition gets it right the first time. There is only something Then the mind comes in, intellectualizes and imagines that nothing also exists That's the minds illusion, nothingness. It's elegant in it's simplicity. However reality is not elegant in that way. Sometimes we find peace in simplicity. But that is because our minds can be overwhelmed if attempting to be aware of a multitude of things at once. To focus on on one sometimes is a needed relief from the whole universe Meditation is an artificial thing, But it is useful to use to step out of distracting, repetitive chatter We need to get away from "it all" sometimes ______________________________________________________________________ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emptiness-most-misunderstood-word-in-buddhism_b_2769189 Emptiness: The Most Misunderstood Word in Buddhism “Emptiness” is a central teaching of all Buddhism, but its true meaning is often misunderstood. If we are ever to embrace Buddhism properly into the West, we need to be clear about emptiness, since a wrong understanding of its meaning can be confusing, even harmful. The third century Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna taught, “Emptiness wrongly grasped is like picking up a poisonous snake by the wrong end.” In other words, we will be bitten! Emptiness is not complete nothingness; it doesn’t mean that nothing exists at all. This would be a nihilistic view contrary to common sense. What it does mean is that things do not exist the way our grasping self supposes they do. In his book on the Heart Sutra the Dalai Lama calls emptiness “the true nature of things and events,” but in the same passage he warns us “to avoid the misapprehension that emptiness is an absolute reality or an independent truth.” In other words, emptiness is not some kind of heaven or separate realm apart from this world and its woes. The Heart Sutra says, “all phenomena in their own-being are empty.” It doesn’t say “all phenomena are empty.” This distinction is vital. “Own-being” means separate independent existence. The passage means that nothing we see or hear (or are) stands alone; everything is a tentative expression of one seamless, ever-changing landscape. So though no individual person or thing has any permanent, fixed identity, everything taken together is what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing.” This term embraces the positive aspect of emptiness as it is lived and acted by a person of wisdom — with its sense of connection, compassion and love. Think of the Dalai Lama himself and the kind of person he is — generous, humble, smiling and laughing — and we can see that a mere intellectual reading of emptiness fails to get at its practical joyous quality in spiritual life. So emptiness has two aspects, one negative and the other quite positive. Ari Goldfield, a Buddhist teacher at Wisdom Sun and translator of Stars of Wisdom , summarizes these two aspects as follows: The first meaning of emptiness is called “emptiness of essence,” which means that phenomena [that we experience] have no inherent nature by themselves.” The second is called “emptiness in the context of Buddha Nature,” which sees emptiness as endowed with qualities of awakened mind like wisdom, bliss, compassion, clarity, and courage. Ultimate reality is the union of both emptinesses. Some Buddhist students think that a meditative state without thought or activity is the realization of emptiness. While such a state is well described in Buddhist meditation texts, it is treated like all mental states — temporary and not ultimately conducive to liberation. ___________________________________________________________ Reality is impermanent. Things come and go. When they go do they go into "nothingness? " No they disappear. They don't go into a place called "nothingness" Nothingness is the mental construct. That is the idealistic illusion things don't have "no" or "non" in front of them. Those are abstractions There is. There is no such thing as nonduality. Absence of duality is not a thing And because it's not at thing that doesn't mean duality is real. that is another construct There only are things And if you says there are only illusions of things illusions are not nothing They are something Welcome to somethingness

The problem isnt friends who arent awakened. The problem is friends who dont even like you talking about it.

@James123 You and I are not, were never and will never be identical. - Thank God. 'Nothing' is forever silent - in Truth. Actuality of being is real and authentic. Something you know little of - as I can see. You're just chewing on the same bunch of words over and over again. Does the unicorn that's non-existent run around yelling that it does not exist? No. That's what deluded 'egos' do. You had an insight or two and have not yet awakened to the fact that all insights and realizations are also traps in disguise. All must be let go off. Only then 'nothing' truly is. And when it speaks; it speaks Love - with a unique twist and flavour.